University Dedicates New Centers for Student and Spiritual Life
October 5, 2018
OBU hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the dedication of the Dick and Sue Rader Office of Student Life and Women of Vision Center for Spiritual Life. The newly renovated section of the Geiger Center officially opened at the beginning of the fall semester and will continue to serve students and faculty for years to come.
The decision to remodel the Geiger Center was made in an effort to bring student life and spiritual life together to better serve the student body in a centralized location. This included moving and remodeling OBU’s mail room, office and meeting spaces and conference rooms for campus organizations.
Dr. Will Smallwood, senior vice president for advancement and university relations, welcomed guests to the ceremony and expressed the university’s gratitude to all those involved in the project.
“At OBU student life is spiritual life, and spiritual life is student life,” he said. “This move represents physically what we have already been doing philosophically. We are so thankful for the opportunity to bring these two together in the heart of the campus to demonstrate our love for students and our desire to see them grow in more than one way.”
Smallwood also recognized the Garlow family’s contributions to the project with the dedication of the Dr. J. Lyle and Willa Ruth Garlow Conference Room.
Randy Smith, executive vice president for business and administrative services, provided a brief overview of the project and gave thanks to those involved. He was followed by Connelly Rader, grandson of Dick and Sue Rader and recent OBU alumnus, who spoke on behalf of the Rader family.
Rader was grateful that his grandparents’ legacy would continue to have an impact on OBU students for years to come.
“What’s incredible about people like Dick and Sue Rader is that they can live on so significantly through so many people,” he said. “I didn’t experience that as fully or holistically until I came to OBU.”
Gretchen Trimble, director of development, spoke on behalf of the Women of Vision. Each year, members of the Women of Vision make individual gifts, which are then pooled together to fund a project voted on by the collective organization. Last year’s project was the remodeling of the offices of spiritual life.
“It is so fulfilling and rewarding to know that last year’s investment helped move spiritual life to a central location here on campus, offering our student body better access to resources and meaningful encounters,” she said. “We did that together and it is an honor to know that what we have been doing together over the last three years resulted in something like this.”
Bruce Perkins, vice president for enrollment and student life, and OBU President Dr. David W. Whitlock, provided the closing remarks for the dedication. Scott Neighbors, executive pastor at FBC Skiatook and OBU trustee, concluded the ceremony with a dedicatory prayer.
